the noble prize recipient has been a leading candidate for energy alternatives. a solar company went bankrupt after receiving federal financing. chu says he wants to return to teaching. president obama thanked him for his, quote, dedicated service. >>> take a look at this. the 2012 elections all told, spent $7 billion. that's according to the federal election commission. and that amount, in case you're wondering, is equal to 28 787 boeing planes or 70 private islands or how about this, 50 billion polio vaccines. if you think that amount of money is a lot, well, it is expected to rise in the future. were you surprised by that number, wolf? $7 billion? >> that's not just for the presidential races. it's for senate races, candidate races, all of the races. >> but that's a huge sum that we're talking about. >> advertising executives, mass mailings, executives, political operatives, they made a lot of money last year. >> everyone says this, the number is only going in one direction, up. >> a lot of advertising. thank very much. >>> hillary clinton's tenure as the secr